But Who is counting...

9 days of no solid food, 9 days of only drinking lemonade, water, and hot tea (and sometimes salt water...bluck!) 9 days later and I feel amazing. 9 days later and I have more energy. 9 days later and eating feels about as foreign to me as the thought of not eating felt 9 days ago. But the master cleanse recommends 10 days.

Why I cut it short…
At day 6 the cayenne pepper started affecting my sinuses in such an unpleasant way that I didn’t want to drink it and only had a glass or two that day. On day 7 I had one glass and heartburn, so on day 8 and 9 I just drank water. Oh, and on Day 9 I sat with my friend and 3 of her children as they ate dinner. Between the 3 of them they were eating 2 of my favorite junk foods, macaroni & cheese and pizza. I was really good as I finished my 2nd class of water and heard my stomach growl for the first time in 9 days. I concluded that my time on the master cleanse had come to an end.

Benefits of cleansing and fasting:

Cooler than before…
I no longer have night sweats. I always thought they were because I sleep under a down comforter and get hot at night. It seems this isn’t so. When they stopped on day 3 I did bit of research and discovered that one way the body detoxifies is through the skin (well I knew that part) and during the night is the only time our digestive systems get a bit of a rest and our body is able to focus it’s attention on detoxification. So my night sweats was actually my body doing it’s very best to try to detoxify me nightly. I’m going to be careful to reduce the need for this nightly ritual in the future.



Just happy mendy…
I’ve always called myself a “shiny happy person” (**REM song queues up in the background**) Most of my pictures have a huge white square on my forehead. (for proof just look->) For now my oily skin has dried up. I actually had to put extra moisture on my face this morning. Never in my life would I do that for fear of breaking out. We shall see what happens…


14 pounds lighter…
Yes, I lost 14 pounds in 9 days…and you can too! Sounds like I’m pedaling the latest weigh loss gimmick. Not really. It will come back when I start eating solid food again, but maybe not all of it. Feeding my body what it needs not just what it wants is a very good thing. Last night I made homemade vegetable soup with organic vegetables from Wild Oats in the crock pot. It was so good I actually surprised myself for two reasons (1) healthy taste good and (2) I can cook.

I’m a purist…
I think water is the way to go. It’s harder, but your system goes into detox quicker and you don’t have extra stuff to mix, keep fresh or buy. All the benefits that the cleanse claims are the same you get when fasting and essentially the master cleanse is a juice fast. After reaping the health benefits I think water fasting is something I’ll add to my routine at least 3-4 times a year.

i did it

I've thought about getting a nose ring for about 7 years. And about 3 months ago i got more serious about doing it. Well, today was the day. With a little encouragement from my friend Jenn, she took me there and held my hand. Although I think i was pretty brave since she said i didn't even squeeze it. It was just nice to have her there. I don't think I would have walked in by myself...so much for "brave little mendy", huh?. It wasn't as bad as I thought, it really only hurt for a second.

i think with my heart...

It was chick rock week in my world. 4 new female rockers joined my collection this week. I love music and lyrics. I love the way songwriters evoke emotion both in the way they string their words together and they way they sing them. (Not to mention the music…but this blog is more about lyrics and less about music…so I’ll leave that meandering for another day.) Both Regina Spektor and Imogene Heap talk about their head and their heart in their first song, specifically when their head out rules their heart. Many times I let my thinking strong arm my feelings into submission. Probably comes from growing up the only feeler in a family of thinkers. (I’m off the charts in the feeling category of the Myers- Briggs personality test.) Anyway, not sure if I have a point other than wanting to share these new lyrics…

I never loved nobody fully/Always one foot on the ground/And by protecting my heart truly/I got lost in the sounds/I hear in my mind - Regina Spektor

Got your heart in a headlock – Imogen Heap

I had a dream last night that I ate 3 bites of a McDonalds cheeseburger and panicked…

I’m doing the master cleanse right now. All I do is drink lemonade made from maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Today is my 4th day (of 10) and I think I’m writing this more to solidify my resolve to finish all ten days more than because I really think anyone cares. The dream last night was really surreal because I was really hungry (although I’m not as hungry as one might expect after forgoing food for 4 days.) so I took three bites of the cheeseburger and then panicked, because (1) eating a cheeseburger after fasting for 4 days is a sure fire way to back your system up if you know what I mean…if you don’t e-mail me I’ll give you more details. (2) The main reason I’m doing this is to cleanse my system and make better choices and McDonalds unfortunately isn’t on my list of better choices. (3) I haven’t finished cleansing yet so I was upset that I took three bites before I even wrestled with the idea. In the dream I actually threw up the three bites but that’s probably more information than you wanted to know. But hey, you didn’t have to read this. The night before I had a dream I ate a fun size snickers bar, and I swallowed it. Tonight maybe I’ll dream about wanting to eat something and not actually eating it.

So here are a few thoughts about the master cleanse…
It is truly amazing how much more energy I have while not eating than when I am eating. Really makes me think that the stuff I put in my body is making me tired, all those preservatives, additives, artificial things and whatnot.

The salt water flush is fascinating. I use saline in my eyes for my contacts, to clean out my nose and now to flush out my intestines. Mind you it’s about the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted and the results are not very pleasant, but the whole process just fascinates me.

The hardest part of fasting is lunch time and dinner time. It’s amazing how my life is scheduled around meals. It’s part of my routine and breaks up my day.

It’s not as hard as you think. If you’ve ever wanted to do a cleanse or fast, do it.